Preparations are underway and the Echo360 team and session speakers are working overtime to make our North American user conference the best conference ever! Hosted this year by the University of Illinois at Chicago on August 1 – 2, 2018, the event brings together academic and technology leaders from around the world.

If you haven’t already made your plans to attend, here are the top 4 reasons why you need to register today!

Reason 1: Connect and Converse!

This isn’t a conference where you just sit back and listen to presentations. Attendees at past events have told us that one of the greatest benefits of attending was the opportunity to meet, network, and establish relationships with fellow attendees – their peers. This year is no different.

Everyone attending the conference is invited to attend our welcome reception at the Hotel Palomar Chicago. You’ll enjoy Chicago’s finest handcrafted cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and have a chance to meet the Echo360 team and your fellow conference attendees in a relaxed, informal setting.

Once the conference kicks off, we’ve created even more opportunities for attendees to meet up, connect, and converse!

Say good morning to your fellow attendees, enjoy a free continental breakfast and a cup of coffee on us at the Conference Registration and Breakfast hour.

“Birds-of-a-Feather” sessions in both the morning and afternoon allow faculty, instructional designers, and technologists to meet up and share their best video and active learning practices.

Our networking luncheon offers another great opportunity to make those important connections and learn from your peers.

Reason 2: Hone Your Skills and Achieve Echo360 Certification

For the first time ever, we are offering Echo360 Certification training. The Pre-Conference Certified Training Workshop, which takes place on August 1, 2018 will give attendees hands-on experience with Echo360. Designed for faculty, instructional designers, and technologists, participants will:

Develop the knowledge and skills to address student learning challenges

Learn how to create and manage instructional videos

Learn how to share and present slides

Learn about methods to analyze student interactions with instructional content

Upon completing training and passing an assessment, participants will receive their training certification.

Reason 3: Must-See Sessions!

This year’s conference is filled with interactive sessions and panel discussions highlighting the power of academic video. Attendees will hear first-hand from the Echo360 product team and gain important insights into upcoming product releases.

In addition to the “Birds-of-a-Feather” sessions that we’ve mentioned above, here are some presentations that you won’t want to miss.

Content Management, Access, and Displays. Accessibility is a top priority for institutions worldwide. In this session, you’ll learn about Echo360’s plans for ASR (Automated Speech Recognition), machine-generated transcripts and editing, supported LTI and LMS integrations, and other CMS-related capabilities within Echo360.

Better Learning through Video and Engagement: Faculty Strategies. This panel discussion brings together a diverse group of professors and instructors who use video in the classroom. They’ll discuss the role technology plays in keeping students focused and engaged. They’ll also share their experiences using pre-recorded video presentations and demonstrations, and classroom activities such as small-group discussions and peer-learning.

Getting Started and Scaling Up: Managing and Growing Video and Active Learning across Your Institution.This panel discussion features speakers from the University of San Francisco, Emory University, and University of Cincinnati who will describe their experiences onboarding faculty, transitioning from simple lecture capture to active learning, how they encourage students to drive adoption, and describing the research they are conducting using Echo360 engagement and behavioral data. This session will give you a solid understanding of how you can grow the use of video on your campus.

Reason 4: It’s in Chicago, One of the World’s Great Cities!

There is a reason why TripAdvisor named Chicago as one of the top travel destinations in Americafor 2018. As one of the world’s greatest cities, it is filled with attractions for everyone.

Did you know that Chicago has 26 miles of beaches, over 8,000 acres of green space, and more than 600 parks? During summer for the past 18 years, those very same parks are where the stars of Hollywood light up the skies. The “Movies in the Parks” series offers up big-screen entertainment featuring everything from classics from the Golden Age of Hollywood to the best family-friendly box office favorites.

Chicago is also home to some of the greatest museums in the world. Here’s a small sample of what you can see!

The Art Institute of Chicagohouses the largest collection of impressionist and Post-impressionist art outside the Louvre.

If you’re still not sure where to start, you can build your itinerary using the Ultimate Chicago Bucket List. It’s a complete list of things to eat, drink, see, and do. Whether you view the stunning Chicago skyline and architecture as you roll down the Chicago River on a boat tour or enjoy a stroll along the Magnificent Mile, Chicago is a place you can visit for days, weeks, or months, and STILL not get to see everything!

Save Your Spot – Register Today!

We’ve convinced you, right? You don’t want to miss this great opportunity to participate in engaging conference sessions, network and connect with your peers, and learn more about how video can improve teaching and learning.

Act now and register today before the conference sells out. You don’t want to miss this event and we look forward to seeing you in Chicago!